Turki Al-Faisal: America stopped backing us.
The former head of Saudi intelligence acknowledged that the Saudis felt that the United States had left them alone.
Turki al-Faisal, the Saudi prince and former head of the country’s intelligence service, said the Saudis were deeply disappointed with the US behavior.
Al-Faisal said in an interview with Arab News that the Saudis feel that the United States has left them alone and that Washington should work with Saudi Arabia to confront what it calls the threats in the Persian Gulf region.
Claiming that the threat was “Iranian influence in the region”, he claimed that Iran was not only using the “Houthis” (Ansarullah) as a tool “to destabilize Saudi Arabia, but also to influence them. “It uses the security and stability of international sea crossings along the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.”
Contrary to this claim, experts emphasize that the Americans, with the help of the Saudis, have increased their presence in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait under the pretext of combating piracy and arms smuggling; This is how the United States seeks to defeat the ceasefire in Yemen (more details).
The Saudi prince also claimed that the removal of Ansarullah from the list of so-called terrorist groups has increased the movement’s attacks on Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Yemeni officials have repeatedly stressed that the attacks are a response to the Saudi coalition’s eight years of atrocities in the country.
Al-Faisal continued: “[US President Joe Biden] said in his election campaign that he would leave Saudi Arabia and, naturally, he kept his promise by stopping the joint US-Saudi operation against the Houthis in Yemen.”
He said Biden had also said he would not meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, adding that Saudi Arabia had long called for a peaceful solution to the Yemeni war, but that Ansar al-Islam did not agree.
The claim comes as the Saudi coalition does not allow ships carrying fuel to enter Yemen and blocks flights to Sanaa airport, despite several days of firefighting.
In this regard, the Yemeni Ansarullah movement criticized the escalation of tensions in the Red Sea by the United States on April 16, at the same time as the implementation of the UN ceasefire in the country.
